’Bows to take sharing show on the road

As the season of giving approaches, the University of Hawaii basketball team’s generosity has contributed to the Rainbow Warriors’ hot start.

UH enters its first road trip of the season at 4-0 and as the top scoring team among Big West schools at 84 points per game. The ’Bows’ scoring average got a boost in a 99-74 win over Nicholls State on Sunday, a performance fueled by 26 assists, and they look to carry their emphasis on sharing the ball to the mainland for Saturday’s game at Texas Tech.

“That’s gotta be a foundation. It’s the way we want to play, home or away,” UH coach Eran Ganot said before Tuesday’s practice. “It’s getting everybody involved, it’s a tougher cover when you do that.

“It hard to guard ball movement. It makes the defense react and when they feel like you are a willing passer, now the defense is kind of hesitant.”

The Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to depart today on their first road trip of the season and play at Texas Tech (3-1), led by coach Tubby Smith, on Saturday in Lubbock, Texas, in the first meeting between the schools.

Through Monday’s games, UH point guard Roderick Bobbitt ranked eighth in the country with 7.8 assists per game. He had a career-high 14 in the season opener against Montana State and 10 against Nicholls State, when the Rainbows compiled 26 assists on their 39 made field goals. Following Bobbitt’s lead, 10 of the 13 UH players who saw action had at least one assist.

“The point guard runs every team, but in (Ganot’s) system he’s really the guy that dictates everything,” said center Stefan Jankovic, who had three assists to go along with a career-best 22 points on Sunday. “Rod has started us off, as well as (Quincy Smith), Isaac (Fleming) and everyone else has followed. We share the ball, we make that extra pass. In practice we do that every time, so it translates to the game.”

Along with Bobbitt’s 31 assists in four games, Ganot noted the senior has committed just seven turnovers so far. He’s also forced defenses to account for him as a scoring threat with 13.5 points per game and continues to pace the conference with 4.4 steals per game.

Aaron Valdes leads UH with 17 points per game, followed by Jankovic’s 13.8 and Ganot’s philosophy that “our go-to guy is the open man” contributed to a Big West-best 50.2 field-goal percentage in sweeping the season-opening homestand.

“I think passing up OK shots for better shots … not forcing things, our turnovers are down right now, which has been huge and we’re going to need to have that on the road,” Ganot said. “One of the big things on the road is to take care of the ball.”

The Rainbow Warriors head out on the trip at 4-0 for the first time since the 2010-11 team broke out to a 5-0 start in Gib Arnold’s first season as coach. UH hasn’t won its mainland opener since a 53-52 at Saint Louis in 2004. Last year, they recovered from a loss to San Francisco to go 2-1 in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida.